A heavy dose of carefree, attacking football. Some poor defending. A sprinkling of inept refereeing.
It adds up to football chaos – beautiful football chaos.
Thank you Brazil 2014, you were an inspiration.
For those of us playing football roulette with our remote controls over the weekend, the return of Europe’s major leagues could not have been more welcome.
The Big Five leagues – England, Germany, Spain, Italy and France – are all back, and the message seems to be attack, attack, attack.
This brave new world owes thanks to none other than those supposed masters of efficiency, the historical purveyors of pragmatism, the Germans.
The wonderful world champions led the way at Brazil 2014 with their spellbinding, attacking football taking them to success.
But it was not just the Germans. The group stages and round-of-16 matches gave the impression that most teams were intent on honouring the host nation’s tradition of jogo bonito, the beautiful game.
In hindsight, the excellence of German clubs in recent years was bound to produce a national team that could fill the void left behind by tiki-taka and a brilliant but fading Spanish team.
Where precise, possession football had been the fad, a more dynamic attacking style became the fashion.
It resulted in an embarrassing first-round exit for Spain and a glorious march to the title – crowned by a majestic, era-defining 7-1 defeat of Brazil – for Germany.
The trend they set promises to spill over into the domestic European season.
Nowhere perhaps has the new Zeitgeist been more obvious than in the English Premier League, where the commitment to attacking football has always been evident.
Last season, Manchester City marched to a second title in three years and scored 102 league goals along the way.
Brendan Rodgers’s exciting Liverpool team, inspired by Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge, scored one fewer.
The opening weeks of this season have promised more of the same.
Surprisingly, perhaps, no team has carried the mantle of attacking football more than Jose Mourinho's Chelsea, a team perceived, sometimes unfairly, as too pragmatic.
Mourinho’s men showed intermittently that they were capable of hitting exhilarating heights last season.
A 4-0 win against Tottenham Hotspur, a 6-0 destruction of Arsenal and a more routine 3-0 win over Stoke City in consecutive home matches hinted at what they can do when in the mood.
At that stage a title win for Mourinho on his return to England looked within reach.
It did not last. With Didier Drogba gone, Fernando Torres misfiring and Samuel Eto’o inconsistent, their title challenge faltered They ended the season on 71 goals and in third place, four points behind the champions and two behind Liverpool.
Having boasted the league’s best defensive record by some distance (only 27 conceded), it is tempting to suggest that even five or 10 more goal goals could have secured the Premier League trophy.
The wrongs of last season seem to have been righted.
Diego Costa has scored four goals in three matches and Andre Schurrle has carried his World Cup winning form to the Premier league.
With Cesc Fabregas already providing sumptuous assists, Chelsea look the strongest challenger for the title at this early stage.
City, with an impressive 3-1 defeat of Liverpool and the Merseysiders’ subsequent 3-0 win over Tottenham, indicate that both will once again score at will this season.
Arsenal, Everton and Manchester United, with a mouthwatering front line of Robin van Persie, Radamel Falcao, Wayne Rooney and Angel Di Maria, will no doubt follow suit.
Where Chelsea will almost certainly trump their challengers again will be in that goals-against column.
Mourinho has already expressed annoyance at his defence for their uncharacteristic performance in the barnstorming 6-3 win against Everton.
“It was wonderful for everyone at the stadium and watching television around the world, but not for me,” he said.
While Chelsea’s transformation into a scoring machine is welcome, at heart Mourinho remains a pragmatist, and undoubtedly the days of them conceding three a game will be rare. But even he has acknowledged improved goal power is vital to a title push. The signings of Costa and Fabregas have been inspired in that regard.
Mourinho may not like it, but Chelsea look as if they will be a lot of fun to watch in the coming months.
With their rivals also committed to attacking styles, it may well be us, the fans watching, who prove to be the big winners this season.
akhaled@thenational.ae
Follow us on twitter at @SprtNationalUAE